New Google Maps app features street-by-street navigation

THE first
Google Maps overhaul since 2009 was due to arrive on Android phones and tablets late on Wednesday tonight, offering new features and an advanced alternative to in-car GPS devices and Apple's much-maligned rival application.

The new Google Maps mobile app features built-in street-by-street navigation for the first time, as well as live traffic updates and guidance around traffic jams.

Google product communications associate Stephanie Shih said the redesigned Maps app would add live traffic updates for the first time, along with street directions that had previously been available in a separate app.

The new traffic updates would alert drivers as they travelled, she said, proposing quicker routes if a traffic jam or accident was reported.

"If you were taking a route to a friend's party and there was an accident reported to our third-party provider on the way, for example, it could reroute you based on that accident," Ms Shih said.

Google Maps product manager Nobuhiro Makida said the new phone and tablet apps would also feature a new single search bar "to show you the features you need when you need them", including car, public transport, walking and cycling navigation.

It could also be used to search for a type of business rather than an address, such as nearby pizza restaurants.

While not comprehensive, more than 100 million businesses are listed worldwide, with star ratings provided by users and third-party providers, as well as details and indoor panoramic, interactive images taken by Google.

The update will be progressively rolled out to Android smartphones and tablets, though only those with Ice Cream Sandwich software (v4.0.3) or later will be able to download the update.

Mr Makida also said the location-sharing feature Google Latitude, that could pinpoint a user's friends on maps, would be removed from the Maps with this update, and moved to its Google+ social network.

More than one billion people use Google Maps monthly, Ms Shih said, making it the most popular mapping app.

But the internet giant suffered a blow to its user base when Apple removed Google Maps as the default navigation app for the iPhone last year, replacing it with its own mapping service.

Apple Maps has since been widely criticised, however, for incorrect locations and directions, missing streets, and warped satellite imagery that made some buildings appear to melt.

Ms Shih said Google planned to launch the new Google Maps app for Apple iPhone and iPad in future, though no date had been set.